


Affliction

by Villieldr



Category: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
Genre: A what-if, Gen, Miles is a good kid, Noir is a gift, Or Three, Slight Character Study, but not who you think it is, shift in character pov, yep that, you know those thoughts you suddenly get while drinking a cup of coffee
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-16
Updated: 2019-01-16
Packaged: 2019-10-10 00:50:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17415806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Villieldr/pseuds/Villieldr
Summary: I amStanding on a ledge. Overlooking the city below, the people, the machines, the sights and the sounds.





	Affliction

**Author's Note:**

> Just a quick reference
> 
> Spider-Man Noir - Peter Benjamin Parker or Pete  
> Spider-Man (Hobo Dad) - Peter B. Parker or Peter

I am

Standing on a ledge. Overlooking the city below, the people, the machines, the sights and the sounds.

So much to see. All these...colors. Are they a disgust? An abhorrence? A wonder?

I just think it they are all a...hindrance. Ah yes, a hindrance. Takes more time for the brain to process, to grind through, to think. More names, more space for memory, more mental occupation when you might need it to react, to save yourself and anyone else, to take down the dimwit involved, be it a mugger or a crime lord or a Kraut. Blame it on the colors when you mess up. Blame it on the way they take your eyes off the prize.

And the sounds. So much of them. People are noisier here, got more reason to talk, to bump gums with a pal and waste daylight. And the cars! You would think that in the future, they would find ways to quiet those tin cans down but no. Still noisy, and they have been multiplying like bunny rabbits. Blame it on the noise too. Good thing I could tolerate it enough. Otherwise, I would have gone insane the first time I got dropped into this world.

Where I come from, there is not much color or noise, not at this scale. The sky is gray, your bones are white, and you bleed black. When the noise kicks up, it is one of three things - a jig, a protest, or a gunfight. My Big Apple is quieter, and consists of only three colors. This New York is full of hindrances, distractions, banes on my senses.

Afflictions.

And a part of me loves it, all of it. It has enough differences from the New York of my world, enough differences to dwell on, to enjoy, to cherish. So much color and so much sound. So much life. Makes me want to stay.

Which is nonsense. I have my own home waiting for me, the people to look after, no matter how stupid or ruthless they could get. I do not need to thrive on feelings brought about by tricks of the light and waves of vibrations. I know better. Better than most of these fleshbags. And yet I - I got afflicted.

_Isn’t it a good thing?_

****Why…why would it be a good thing? I cannot afford to get compromised. Not when you already have.** **

_Look around you. It was tough enough to not fall in love with this city. This is…the New York I’ve always wanted. Bright and free and open. Life. So much life._

****Life that takes other life. Life that wastes and ferments and destroys.** **

_Life that our New York lacks._

****Life that cannot affect ours -** **

“Uuuh…you okay there, Pete?”

_Quick! Give me back my body!_

“I’m aces,” Peter Benjamin Parker replied, looking over his shoulder and at the younger spider behind him. “Aces, kid. Why? Spooked ya?”

He could practically hear the boy think, even from behind that black and red mask. He turned around fully and stepped down from the ledge of the rooftop, walking over to his friend.

“Nah. Not really,” Miles denied with a light chuckle. “You just seemed…broodier than usual back there.”

“I got my moments. And I’m…admittedly still ain’t used to this world of yours.”

****Damn straight.** **

It had been months since his first meeting with the others, with people just like him. Sure, they hadn’t been bitten by some batty spider-god and had their bodies partially hijacked by said spider-god. But where they all ended up, the responsibility they shared, the lives they lead…when Pete found out, he didn’t feel so lonely anymore.

Even when he was never truly alone to begin with.

Maybe it was in his silence. Maybe it was in his stance. Whatever it was, it made Miles sigh softly as he leaned forward and wrapped his arms around the elder male. Pete blinked behind his goggles, tensing a little.

“...Miles?”

“You were brooding again, man. Figured you needed this.”

Another blink, but then Pete was relaxing and hugging back. Months. Months of breaking down his walls, of learning how to feel again and letting other people in. Learning that it wasn’t a vulnerability, or a weakness, but a strength.

Most spiders tend to work alone, but he, Miles and the rest of their little group weren’t most spiders.

So he ignored the disapproving hiss in the back of his head, especially when he decided to lift his friend well off the ground. Miles’ resulting laughter was a sweet reward.

“No fair! You’re so much taller than me!”

“Not my fault you’re still a pipsqueak.”

“I’ve yet to hit my growth spurt, you old fart! Peter says I might end up towering over you one day!”

“That’s one day, kid. It ain’t today.”

Miles shoved off of him gently, breaking their hug. He punched Pete on the arm playfully, snorting.

“Whatever. Let’s head back to Aunt May’s. It’s Peni’s turn to pick the movie tonight, and you know she waits for no one.”

“You go ahead, Miles. I’ll catch up with ya.”

The younger spider stared at him for a moment longer before he nodded and jogged off the rooftop, thwipping away and to the direction of Queens. Pete watched his retreating figure, the smile on his lips still there. God, he loved that kid. He loved all of his fellow spiders.

****…we must not be compromised, Parker. We cannot afford to lose ourselves when these people slip from our grasp.** **

Like Aunt May. Like Mary Jane.

He almost gave in. They were one of the reasons why he kept a tight lid on his emotions, emotions he couldn’t afford to wallow in, emotions his ‘partner’ could be easily influenced by. Most times, when he remembered the people he loved and lost, he tried to look back on the good memories, the images of a past that left a bittersweet taste in his mouth. Still, there were times he remembered, and the heartache was there, waiting for him, ready to tear him apart all over again.

****A grievance. An adversity. An affliction.** **

_Is that what you call it? What we felt for them?_

****Do not start with me, little man. I had loved them as much as you did.** **

_I know. I know. Sorry._

He looked to the skyline, saw the dark above creeping in on the last bright vestiges of daylight. The city was beginning to light up before him, awash with colors and sounds of different kinds. This was the New York he wanted, and yet he couldn’t have it. Because it wasn’t his.

So what was his?

The hug Miles gave him, the smile and the warmth that came with it. The laughter shared with Ham, the times he danced with Peni, the late night companionship with Gwen and the much appreciated talks with Peter. Coffee with the Aunt May of this world. Movie night, game night, all the memories and feelings in between. The family who provoked such.

Those were his.

_They can be yours too. They won’t slip away that easily. I can tell._

****Must not be compromised. Must not.** **

_A shame. I was compromised the moment I laid my eyes on them._

He fixed his hat as he moved, an easy set to his shoulders, a slight skip to his step. In no time, he was standing on the rooftop ledge, goggles to the city and all its people and machines and sights and sounds. He caught the derisive snort in one corner of his mind, followed by a ripple of something he knew to be a chuckle.

****You humans. So flimsy. So easily afflicted.** **

He chuckled right back, sending out a rope of black webbing from his wrist, tugging on it when he felt it hold fast.

_Well, Venom, if I wasn’t so easily afflicted, I doubt I would’ve let you in as quickly as I did all those years ago._

And maybe Venom would learn that this affliction wasn’t so bad. That it was alright to love again.

Grinning behind his mask, he fell forward and let the world swing by.

**Author's Note:**

> What If: The Spider-God That Gave Noir His Powers Was That Universe's Venom
> 
> Right so. It was that moment when I was having my (third?) cup of coffee when I went "you know how Noir's coat just moves dramatically and he says it's the wind but what if his coat was really alive like Strange's cloak-fren le gASP"
> 
> Just so you know, I haven't read any of the Noir comics or even watched the latest Venom movie. I guess this is kinda my interpretation of him/them? Yeah, let's go with that. Because I've done a little research and found out Noir doesn't have a Venom in his universe (and I decided to fix that.
> 
> And have you seen the Spider-God? I seriously went "wow nice eldritch entity with body horror he kinda maybe looks a bit like Venom kind of a stretch but it's doable".)
> 
> This is probs what it looks like if Pete and Venom coexisted for some 20+ years down the road, surviving off of each other as the people around them bite the dust one by one. I'm having this headcanon that one of the reasons Noir crushes his emotions most of the time is because his Spider-God fren could get influenced by them and go berserk. I've read symbiotes in the canon Marvel universe thrive on the emotions of their hosts. Found it interesting enough so I did something about it here.
> 
> Enough of me rambling. Gonna go back to my studies now yes. Thanks.


End file.
